Chapter 17: Denial
Mount Justice
August 19, 19:28 EDT
"Where is she?" I ask impatiently.
The Team and I (all but Robin) are in the control / training room, waiting for our training instructor, or as I like to call her my sister, to get here. But she's taking longer than I thought she would.
"I'm sure she'll be here anytime soon", M'gann says calmingly.
"I hope so, cause if she doesn't, I'm gonna—" Before I can finish my sentence, the zeta tube activates, someone coming from the other side. Took her long enough.
But the person coming out of the tube is someone I never expected to be here. "Grandpa Grant?"
"Well who'd you expect, the Tooth Fairy?", he says back to me.
I walk over to the old man, wondering just why and how he's here. "No actually, I was expecting–" Before I could finish my sentence, a fist comes hurdling my way, making me move to the floor my left to dodge it.
"Nice to see you haven't lost your edge. Your reflexes are as sharp as ever", he compliments.
"Are you nuts? What kind of greeting is that to your granddaughter?"
"Sorry, Little Bird. Just wanted to make sure those Justice Pansies have been training you good and good. Looks like they have."
"It's only been a few weeks since I joined! If you wanna know how I'm progressing", and after I say that, I sweep kick his legs off the ground, knocking his ass off as well. I get back on my feet and stand above him, looking down on the old timer. "I'll show you myself next time you and I step in the ring."
Then I remember we're not the only ones here. I look back towards my friends, who're still looking at me and Grant, probably wondering what the hell is going on. Well this is gotta look odd to them, a teenage girl knocking down an old man.
"You gonna help me up?", he asks with his hand raised to me.
"You gonna hit me again?", I ask while grabbing ahold of him, pulling him up on his feet.
"Not today, little girl."
"Now could you please tell me what you're doing here and where my sister is?"
"Actually, Dinah's the reason I'm here." This can't be good. "She and Green Arrow were fighting off a couple of bank robbers in Star City. They stopped them pretty easily, but one of them got out a lucky shot on Dinah."
Dinah… "Oh no… Is she…?"
"Now don't start any waterworks, Sara. She's okay, didn't even hit an organ. But Arrow wanted her to get medical attention. She called me, told me she'd be in some fancy space tower above the Earth and that she wanted me to watch over you and your little friends' training today."
Poor Dinah… How could I have been so selfish and impatient just now? If anything had happened to her, I don't know what I'd…
"Sara", a familiar voice says right behind me, knocking me out of my train of thought. I turn around to find Kyle, with a look on him that reads worry and comfort. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah", I answer quickly, "everything's good. Canary's at the Tower apparently, official League business. Must've forgot to let us know. Anyhow, my Grandpa is going to watch over our training for her today."
"Your Grandpa?"
"Well, he's not my actual grandfather but he's the closest thing to it. Grandpa, this is Kyle Rayner, the team's own Green Lantern. Kyle, meet Ted Grant."
As soon as I say his name, Kyle's eyes widen with shock and surprise. "Ted Grant… As in—?"
"The Wildcat!", he loudly announces himself. "Pleasure to meet you son", he says as he raises his hand toward Kyle for a shake, with Kyle meeting it with his own. "My, my, that's one good grip you've got on you, son. Especially for a GL."
"Thank you, sir. We Lanterns are stronger than people give us credit for."
"That I know. I fought alongside a fellow Lantern myself in my days, Alan Scott. He was a true hero and Lantern."
"Yes, he was. I hope to be just as great of a Lantern as he was one day."
"Well, keep up the good fight and you just might do that, son", he says letting go of Kyle's hand. Mhmm, I was afraid for a second Grandpa might scare him off. Then again, from what I've seen, not a lot can scare Kyle Rayner.
"Well then, if we're ready, let's introduce you to the rest of the team and get today's session started", I say, grabbing a hold of Grandpa and heading towards the others, with Kyle following. "Everyone, this is Ted Grant. He's going to be today's training instructor."
"What?", Wally asks. "What about Canary?"
Before I can answer, Grandpa goes off and answers for me. "I'm here because she needed me to whip you sorry sissies into shape! Someone's gotta teach you how to fight! And the name's Wildcat! Or are we gonna have a problem, punk?", he asks a whimpering Wally.
"No sir, not at all", he answers a little shaken. Great first impression, Grant.
"Now, from what my little bird here has told me", Hey! "you all are learning combat skills, how to fight the enemy even when the fight seems impossible to win. Well today, your job is to beat me." You got to be kidding me…
I look to the others, and Wally, Kaldur and M'gann look a bit wary about taking on the Wildcat. I can't say I don't blame them. Though Superboy and Kyle don't seem to be scared be his loud mouth barking. Superboy I get why, he's Kryptonian with the strength of ten men. But Kyle should be a bit worried about this.
Grandpa walks to the center of the ring, lighting up as he walks on it. He turns around and looks towards us, waiting for his opponent. "So, who's first?"
"Grandpa, maybe we should do something—"
"I'll go", a certain alien boy says. He walks into the ring, ready to face the veteran hero. I don't know who I should be more worried about.
"You think you can tangle with the Wildcat, son?", he says taking his boxing stance.
Superboy cracks his neck and takes his stance as well. "Come and get it, old man."
Superboy charges at the animal, who just stands there, hopping about like he's in one of his boxing matches. He takes a swing at him, only for Grandpa to dodge it. Superboy turns back around and finds Wildcat in front of him, who punches him in the face three times, pushing him back a few feet. Wildcat comes for him again, but Superboy raises his arms above his face, guarding him from his punches.
Soon after the fists stop coming, Superboy and Wildcat grab a hold of each other, with Superboy's right foot in place next to Grandpa's left. I know what he's trying to do! But before he can pull it off, Wildcat puts his left foot behind Superboy's right, leveraging his body and throwing him from behind and to the ground, his front facing the ceiling.
As Superboy lays on the ground in defeat, Wildcat stands above him laughing. "Good effort, son. But next time, don't try to use my own move on me."
He lowers his hand to Superboy, who takes it and raises himself up. "Black Canary's the one who taught me that move."
"And where do you think she learned it from?", he says as Superboy's eyes widen.
"Man, and I thought Supey could take the old cat", Wally says as Superboy joins the rest of us.
"You shouldn't underestimate your opponent Wally, even if he is much older than you", Kyle tells him. "Especially Wildcat, since he is one of the founding members of the Justice Society of America."
"Seriously?! That guy?"
"Sure, just ask Jay next time you see him."
"I'm certainly surprised to see someone his age can still move that fast, and can still fight just as strong too", Kaldur says.
"Believe it", I say. "Dinah may have trained me, but Grandpa Grant trained and helped her become Black Canary. He spares with me every now and then, but I've never been able to beat him in a fight."
"Never?", Artemis asks. But I don't respond, only giving her a look of certainty.
"Alright, so who's next?" But no one jumps at the offer this time, especially after seeing him beat our strongest team member. "Come on, you lily livers! None of you are man enough to jump in the ring with the Wildcat?"
"I am."
I turn around to find Kyle answers him, who looks ready to go up against Grandpa. Before he walks into the ring, I stop him. "Kyle, are you nuts? He just beat Superboy in almost a mintue, what makes you think you have a shot?"
"I don't, but I'll never know unless I try", he answers as he enters the ring. Grandpa's gonna pulverize him. I gotta do something…
"Stop!" I yell before anyone starts fighting. "I'll fight you."
As soon as I say that, Grandpa laughs at my statement. "Come on, Sara. You and I both know I can whoop your little behind faster than you can say Per Degaton."
I walk into the ring, taking off my jacket and cracking my neck. "I didn't mean you, Grandpa."
Not only is Grandpa shocked by my true statement, but everyone in the room, especially Kyle. "You want to fight me?"
"No, you're not! I'm the instructor here, I do the fighting and what I say goes!", he yells as he walks up to me.
"You're also the elderly veteran with the not-so-great heart condition and high cholesterol. You shouldn't be fighting too much, probably not at all. So as your granddaughter, I'm fighting and what I say GOES!", I yell back at him, looking him dead in the eyes. I'm not backing down, Wildcat.
After a good minute of staring at each other, Grandpa huffs and looks at me less angry now. "Alright then Little Bird, you wanna fight the GL? He's all yours", he says, stepping out of the ring.
I walk past Kyle, who looks at me with that curious look on his face. "Are you doing this just for Grant's health? Or we're you worried I couldn't handle myself?"
I scoff at his question. "You wish! I just wanted to fight you myself", I say, taking my fighting stance.
"Be careful what you wish for, you might regret it", he says back, ready to fight me as well.
But before either one of us can make a first move, a hole from the ceiling opens and from it comes down a swirling red machine, landing onto solid ground between Kyle and me.
"Red Tornado?", Kyle says.
"Guess training's over then", I say. Great timing as always, Red.
Before I can ask the android what he's doing, someone louder and rowdier beats me to the punch. "Red! Look at you! You haven't changed since the '70s, you old rust bucket you", Grandpa says as he walks to him and places his hand on his shoulder.
"Wildcat, I did not expect to find you here", he answers.
"Well, Dinah asked for a favor and I figured this would be better than just practicing by myself in the gym. And I've got to say, these kids are shaping up to be fine heroes. Don't you agree?"
Tornado does not answer his question. "Yes, now if you excuse me, Wildcat."
As he walks away from his old comrade, Wally zooms up to him and asks, "Do you have a mission for us?"
"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibilities", he answers.
"Yeah. Well, the Batman's with the Robin doing the dynamic duo thing in Gotham, but you're headed somewhere, right? Hot date or a mission?"
"If we can be of help…", Kaldur adds on.
Knowing we won't take no for an answer, Tornado turns around and a computer screen appears in front of him. "This is Kent Nelson, a friend. He is 106 years old."
"Guy doesn't look a day over 90", Wally says in Artemis' direction.
"And he has been missing for 23 days. Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your mentors' Justice League."
"Of course. Nelson was Earth's sorcerer supreme", Kaldur says. "He was Doctor Fate."
"More like Doctor Fake", Wally says. "Guy knows a little advanced science and 'Dumbledore's' it up to scare the bad guys and impress the babes." Advanced science? Wally can't be serious.
"Kent may simply be on one of his walkabouts, but he is caretaker to the Helmet of Fate, the source of the Doctor's mystic might, and it is unwise to leave such power unguarded", Tornado says.
"Nelson was one of the JSA's powerhouses back in the day", Grandpa says, "taking down criminals and conquerors easy with his magic. I never understood his whole hocus pocus tricks, but I can tell you that Nelson's helmet was the source of it. Whenever he put it on, it's like he was a completely different person, more dangerous too."
"Tornado and Grandpa are right", I say. "That kind of mystical power falling into the wrong hands would be disastrous for the entire world."
"He's like the great sorcerer priests and priestesses of Mars", M'gann adds. "I would be honored to help find him." Mhmm, I had no idea Martians coveted magic so deeply.
"Me, too", Wally says, raising his hand up quickly. "So honored, I can barely stand it. Magic rocks." You've got to be… Is he that desperate?
"How do we find him?", Kyle asks.
"Take this. It is the key to the Tower of Fate", Tornado says as he hands the key to Kaldur.
"What are the chances we both so admire the mystic arts?", Wally says in M'gann's direction. I got a bad feeling that's gonna blow up in his face. Badly.
"Hey", Kyle says to me. "We'll pick up our match after we find Nelson. If you still want, of course."
"Be careful what you wish for, Rayner."
Salem
August 19, 20:22 EDT
We've been flying for almost an hour, now in Louisiana for the last 10 minutes. If Red Tornado's coordinates are correct, we should be reaching the Tower of Fate soon enough. I fly ahead of the Bioship to get a clearer look at what's ahead, but all I see is an abandoned theater and a field of grass next to it. No Tower at all. Magic is just weird.
Okay, so even though I don't understand magic completely, or at all at times, I do believe in it. But I'm not as close minded as Wally is about the mystic arts. He believes in science, knowing the facts and mathematics to something. Even if he saw Zatara magically have someone appear from another country in front of him, Wally would just argue that he has an advanced teleporter hidden somewhere on him. Wally may be fast on his feet, but when it comes to being open minded to the unexplainable, he's slower than the Turtle.
I land myself on the grass field, with the Bioship doing the same. I use my ring's light to search for the Tower if it's being cloaked somehow. But my ring shows me no findings of any hidden structures or objects. My ring can't find a magically hidden tower? Like I said, magic is very weird.
I hear a fast whoosh moving past me, meaning Wally's seeing if he can find any sign of cloaking. Good luck with that, KF.
Wally runs back to us just as fast as he left, stopping in front of Artemis and I. "Nothing. This isn't simple camouflage."
"So what do you think, adaptive micro-opto-electronics combined with phase shifting?", Artemis asks the science whiz.
And just as he's about to answer, M'gann walks right next to him. "Absolutely not! Clearly mystic powers are at work here." But Artemis and I don't answer him, just glare at him. So full of crap man.
"I can't find anything with my ring either", I tell to Aqualad. "What are you thinking?" But Kaldur doesn't answer right away. He instead looks to the key Tornado gave to him in his hand, pondering on what we should do next.
"A test of faith. Stand behind me", he says as he walks in front of us all. He stands ahead of us in the field still for a few seconds, then raises his hand with the key in it. Kaldur then moves the key forward and then turns it right, which makes a clicking noise, like from turning gears. Right after, a giant stone tower becomes visible right before our eyes. The Tower of Fate.
Kaldur pushes the door open, with him going through the doorway. The rest of us follow our steadfast leader into the unknown and mysterious tower. We find ourselves in a stone room, with nothing or no one in it.
"Where'd the door go?", Superboy says, which makes me turn around to see the door is gone. It was just there a second ago.
Before anyone can say or do anything else, a magical afterimage of Kent Nelson appears before us. Except for glowing like moonlight, the afterimage looks exactly like Nelson. "Greetings. You have entered with a key, but the Tower does not recognize you. Please state your purpose and intent."
Before Kaldur or anyone else says something, Wally opens his mouth first. "We are true believers, here to find Doctor Fate." This is gonna end badly.
Nelson's afterimage disappears without a word, worrying me even more. Before I can think even more, the ground starts to shake, crumbling apart below our feet. We fall along with the debris, and looking straight down I see a pit of hot lava ready to boil us alive.
After a few seconds of free falling, I float myself in midair and grab the nearest person to me, which happens to be Sara. The rest of the team reacts just as fast and efficient as I do: M'gann levitates while grabbing Wally, Artemis pulls out a crossbow, shoots at the wall of the pit and swings to catch Kaldur, landing on the wall. Superboy, however, grabs for the wall and tries to slow himself down with his bare hands and feet, which he's able to do, but not before his feet touch base with the lava. Thankfully lava doesn't burn or hurt Kryptonians in any way possible.
"Those were my favorite boots", Superboy says. "This Nelson guy better be worth it." If you want, I can buy you a new pair of boots that you'll ruin soon enough.
I look to M'gann next to me, or at least she was a second ago. She and Wally are slowly floating downwards to the bottom of the pit. "Having trouble… Maintaining altitude. I'm so hot."
"You certainly are", Wally says to her. Are you kidding me?!
"Oh my god!", Sara yells at him.
"Wally!", Artemis screams at him too.
"Hey, inches above sizzling death, I'm entitled to speak my mind."
"My physiology and M'gann's are susceptible to extreme heat", Kaldur says while sweating fast. "We must climb out quickly."
"I can able to create a floor construct to take us out of this hole, but with it being so hot down here, the construct might break apart", I add as an option.
"Yeah, I'd rather not be dropped into hot lava", Sara says. "Any other ideas?"
"Hello, Megan. We never truly answered the question. Red Tornado sent us to see if Mr. Nelson and the Helmet were safe!"
As soon as M'gann says that, two floor pieces come out of the wall and merge together, sealing off the lava right below it. Everyone drops to the newly acquired platform, and when we do, I don't feel any heat at all coming from it.
"This platform, it should be red hot, but it is cool to the touch", Kaldur says. Magic, the one thing I'll never understand.
"Don't worry, Megalicious", Wally says while trying to comfort her. "I got you." Oh that's it.
"Wally West!" I yell so loud at him and Artemis cuts me off before I can rip him in a new one. "Enough! You're little 'Impress Megan at All Costs' game nearly got us all barbecued."
"How did this become my fault?"
"When you lied to that whatever it was and called yourself a true believer."
"Wally, you don't believe?", M'gann asks.
"No, he doesn't", I say. "He's never believed in magic. Not even when an actual user of the mystic arts does magic in front of him."
Wally looks to me, pissed for saying that, then looks to everyone else. Doesn't leave him much to say, except for the truth. "Fine! Fine! I lied about believing in magic. But magic is the real lie, a major load."
"Wally, I studied for a year at the Conservatory for Sorcery in Atlantis", Kaldur says. "The mystic arts created the skin icons that power my water-bearers."
"Dude, have you ever heard of bioelectricity?", he says to the Atlantean. "Hey, in primitive cultures, fire was once considered magical, too. Today it's all just a bunch of tricks."
"And what about life outside our solar system?", I say. "For hundreds of years, mankind believed it was the only living, intellectual species in the galaxy, until heroes like Superman, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern showed up. If aliens are real, why isn't magic real?"
Wally hesitates for a few seconds, not knowing how to respond. But Wally being Wally, he answers back somehow. "Earth would've found life on Mars or any other planet eventually. And millions of beings outside of our solar system is more believable than a couple of spells and wands." You've got to be kidding… Stubborn and hardheaded as a Kryptonian.
"You're pretty closeminded for a guy who can break the sound barriers in his sneakers", Artemis says.
"That's science. I recreated Flash's laboratory experiment, and here I am. Everything can be explained by science."
"Not everything can, West", Sara says. "Magic is as real as science is, but not everything it can do can be explained. There are some forces in this world that can have no way of truly understanding how it can be done, and the sooner you accept that, the better."
"Let us test that theory", Kaldur says as he grabs a handle on the platform.
"Wait! The backdraft from the lava will roast us alive!"
But Wally's warning does him no good, as Kaldur pulls on the handle. When the door opens, what comes out isn't lava, but snow. Going from hot magma to winter snow? That'd be good to have on if we needed to stop an active volcano.
"Do you ever get tired of being wrong?", Artemis says to Wally.
"I don't", I say, to which Wally scowls at us both.
We all jump down through the doorway, landing in a cold, snowy mountain scape. After Wally jumps out last, the door disappears behind him. We all look to him, waiting to see how he thinks science explains this.
"Ever hear of string theory? We're in a pocket dimension." Artemis gets riled up when he says that, annoying her even more. I can't tell who's more stubborn between the both of these hotheads.
"What's that?", M'gann says, making us all turn to her pointed direction, to which we see a floating walking cane.
"Oh, maybe it's Nelson's magic wand", Wally sarcastically says.
"Quit joking around", Sara says. "Maybe Nelson's cane can help us find him somehow." She walks forward to grab it, but Artemis and Wally both grab it at the same time.
"I got it", they both say at the same time.
"Okay, let me have it before either one of you breaks it", Sara says placing her hand at the top of it. As soon as she does that, the can glows brightly. This can't be good.
"I can't let go", both Artemis and Wally say again.
"Neither can I", Sara says then. Next thing I see is the can lifting all three of them up in the air, and then all of them disappear in thin air. Oh great, now we gotta find Nelson, Wally, Artemis, and Sara.
"Perfect. What do we do now?", I ask the others.
"There's nothing we can do but look for an exit", Aqualad says. "Once we do that, we will find the others and Nelson."
"Hopefully the others will have found Mr. Nelson by the time we catch up to them", M'gann says optimistically.
"Still, we should try to find an exit as fast as we can."
"Then we better get to walking", I say as we start to walk north of the indoor arctic we're in.